Chapter 57: In the Presence of a Nightmare
[Kamino Ward - The Ruined Warehouse]
The sensation was akin to drowning in a swamp of hot, viscous tar.
The black sludge retracted violently, spitting them out onto a hard, cold surface open to the night air. Aokiji fell to his hands and knees, retching. His lungs clawed for oxygen, desperate to purge the taste of rot and decay from his throat. Beside him, Katsuki Bakugo was hunched over, wiping bile from his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes watering from the suffocation.
A few meters away, the League of Villains landed in a disorganized heap.
"Eugh!" Toga Himiko complained, shaking the black slime off her school uniform with a grimace. "This smells terrible! It smells like old blood and sewage! Tomura-kun, wasn't there a cuter way to travel?"
"Shut up..." Dabi muttered, pushing himself up slowly. He scanned their surroundings, his turquoise eyes narrowing. "At least we're out."
But the complaints of the League died instantly as they took in their surroundings.
Aokiji stood up slowly. His legs trembled with a weakness he tried to disguise by locking his knees. He wiped the dust from his face and looked around, his pupils dilating as the sheer scale of the reality hit him.
They weren't in a room. They weren't in a hideout.
They were standing in the center of a cataclysm.
The massive warehouse, which was supposed to be the secret factory for the Nomu and the stronghold of the Demon Lord, had been leveled. It was gone. The walls had vanished. The reinforced steel roof had been torn apart and crumpled like wet paper by a gigantic, invisible hand. Burst pipes hissed, venting steam into the cool night air, and mountains of rubble stretched out to the horizon.
"What is this..." Bakugo whispered, taking a staggering step forward, his mind unable to process the visual data. "The whole place is destroyed... when did this happen?"
"This happened mere seconds ago, while I was speaking with Tomura."
The voice was calm. It was polite, cultured, and smooth. It slid through the silence like a cold blade, freezing the blood in the students' veins.
Everyone turned toward a mound of debris in the center of the clearing.
There, standing atop the ruin, was a man.
He wore an immaculate black suit that contrasted sharply with the chaotic destruction around him. His face was a mass of scar tissue, a dome of calloused skin with no eyes, no nose, and no ears. He wore a black industrial mask connected to life-support tubes that disappeared into his collar.
Hoo... Hoo...
The rhythmic, mechanical sound of his breathing echoed in the stillness.
All For One raised a hand, gesturing casually to the devastation.
"While I was giving my orders to Tomura via the monitor, a group of top-tier Pro Heroes attempted to raid this location," he explained, his tone sounding like someone describing brushing away a fly. "They were quite enthusiastic. But, unfortunately for them, they were rendered helpless in the blink of an eye."
Bakugo and Aokiji followed the direction of his hand, and their breath hitched in their throats.
Scattered among the twisted metal and concrete were the bodies of the elite.
"Best Jeanist..." The name escaped Bakugo's lips as a horrified exhale.
The No. 4 Hero, the man Bakugo had interned with to discipline his mind, lay in a pool of his own blood. His chest had been pierced by a savage, invisible blow that had torn through his denim fibers and his flesh alike. Beside him, the giantess Mt. Lady lay unconscious, returned to her normal size, along with Gang Orca and Tiger.
They had been decimated. In a single instant.
The aura radiating from the man in the suit wasn't just power. It was a physical weight. It made the air feel thick, toxic, and impossible to inhale. It felt as though gravity itself had doubled in his presence.
Bakugo's knees shook violently. His primal combat instincts, which had never failed him, were screaming a single, terrifying truth: We are doomed.
The man in the suit took a slow step forward. The clack of his dress shoe against the stone rang out clearly, ignoring his subordinates and focusing entirely on the students.
"I apologize for the mess," All For One said, his voice sounding as if it came from the bottom of a deep, dark well. "Bakugo, Kuzan... I had hoped to welcome you in a more organized setting, but uninvited guests have ruined the decor."
He paused beside the broken body of Best Jeanist.
"Best Jeanist..." All For One mused with a cold, analytical tone. "You managed to manipulate the fibers of your comrades' clothes and pull them away in a split second to minimize the fatal damage. impressive reaction speed. However... your Quirk requires years of intricate practice and discipline to be useful. It does not suit Tomura's disposition. I shall leave it to you."
He crushed a piece of rubble under his heel, then slowly turned his blind face until it was pointed directly at Aokiji.
"Aokiji Kuzan."
He spoke the name with a terrifying sense of familiarity.
"Here you are. Face to face with me, just as I planned, despite the slight deviation in details."
Bakugo took a step back, cold sweat drenching his forehead. He looked at Aokiji beside him, only to find the Ice User frozen in place, staring at the villain in silent horror.
Aokiji screamed internally.
I chose this scenario... I decided to trust All Might and come here... I wanted to face this person to end the threat...
He tried to move his foot, but it felt welded to the ground.
So why... why are my legs refusing to move? Is this what pure fear feels like?
All For One extended his open hand toward Aokiji. In the center of his palm, there was a single, circular hole—dark, deep, and hungry.
"Come here. Let us not waste time. I will take 'Ice' from you now. A beautiful and rare quirk... it will be very useful for soothing my damaged body."
In the blink of an eye, the distance vanished.
No one saw him move. All For One was simply there, standing directly in front of Aokiji.
"Relax."
The cold hand was placed over Aokiji's face. The hole in the palm rested directly over his eyes and forehead.
"Gghkk..." Aokiji choked.
He felt a sensation unlike anything he had ever known. It wasn't the cold he controlled; it was the cold of a void. From deep within his chest, ethereal blue threads began to surface. They drifted out through his skin, swirling and being slowly, magnetically pulled toward the hole in All For One's hand.
It was his essence. His power. His identity. Being ripped away.
Time stopped in Aokiji's mind. His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird.
Every instinct in my body is telling me... even if I die, this person must not touch my Quirk.
He remembered the offer. He remembered the threat.
He will conquer the world, this bastard... His promise to protect my family was a lie from the start. I was naive to believe there is honor among demons.
Aokiji clenched his fists at his sides until his knuckles turned white. The blue threads of energy began to vibrate, resisting the pull.
If there is anyone who must protect that family, it is my duty before it is the duty of any other hero...
Aokiji forced his eyes open beneath the villain's palm. A sharp, frantic glint shone within them.
I am... a hero too... The Ice Hero!
"DON'T TOUCH ME!!"
CRAAAAAAAAAACK!
It wasn't a calculated move. It wasn't a technique. It was a raw, violent explosion of absolute zero.
Aokiji's body didn't glow, but it cracked. A thick, jagged layer of ice erupted from his skin, expanding outward with the force of a bomb.
The arm All For One had placed on Aokiji's face froze instantly. The ice didn't just coat the surface; it flash-froze the air, the moisture, and the suit, spreading at light-speed to encase the villain's mask, shoulder, and a portion of his chest in heavy, spiked glaciers.
"!!?"
For the first time, All For One's head snapped back slightly.
Aokiji didn't wait.
He propelled himself backward with a blast of ice from his feet. In the same fluid motion, he grabbed the collar of the shock-frozen Bakugo.
WOOSH!
The two students flew backward, tumbling across the rough ground before Aokiji scrambled to a halt. He stood defensively in front of Bakugo, heaving for breath, clouds of freezing vapor rolling off his body.
A stunned silence fell over the ruin.
"Waaah..." Toga's mouth hung open. "He froze the Boss!"
"Is he insane?" Dabi muttered, his eyes wide. "He's going to get killed instantly."
Tomura Shigaraki, struggling against his own weakness on the ground, stared at Aokiji with disdain.
"You should have accepted your fate while you had the chance..." Shigaraki hissed. "Fool."
All For One stood motionless. Ice encased his entire right side, his arm, and his mask, glistening under the moonlight.
He moved his head slightly, a simple twitch, as if shaking off a speck of dust.
CRASH!
The massive block of ice shattering was deafening. It exploded outward, turning into a shower of diamond-dust that glittered in the air. There was not a single scratch on his suit or his mask.
But he didn't attack immediately.
He tilted his blind head toward where Aokiji stood panting, shielding Bakugo.
"Hoooh..."
The sound came from behind the mask, a tone carrying a strange mix of disappointment and intense curiosity.
"I thought I invited a gentle lamb..." All For One said, elegantly brushing a few stray ice crystals from his shoulder. "...But it seems you have the fangs of a wolf, Kuzan. Resisting the extraction through sheer willpower? That is rare."
He raised his hand again. This time, the air around his arm began to distort. Red and black sparks of energy crackled, and the pressure in the area dropped ominously.
"But fangs are useless against a natural disaster."
.
.